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medical research

March 16, 2012

For some, the appeal of visiting the Big Apple is the ritzy restaurants, shows on Broadway or a peek at the New York skyline from atop the Empire State building. But when it comes down to it, your age and personal interests are clearly the deciding factors.

One recent visitor to America’s biggest city certainly wasn’t overwhelmed despite the fact she was about to meet one of the world’s most famous movie and TV stars and appear with him on a television story.

Oh no, for 10 year old Zoe Campbell It wasn’t meeting celebrity movie and TV star, Michael J. Fox, or appearing on television, that turned out to be best thing about going to New York. It was meeting another kid.

Zoe flew to New York with her father, Clyde Campbell, Sydney businessman and founder of the Shake It Up Parkinson Disease Foundation, to be part of Channel Seven’s Sunday Night program. It will feature an interview with Fox (who has Parkinson's) and the work Shake It Up is doing in Australia to find a cure.

Clyde was diagnosed with the disease a couple of years ago and set up the Foundation, to partner with Michael J. Fox in a global medical research effort.

The real fun for Zoe was meeting one of Fox’s four children, Esme, who was the same age as her. Clyde told me when Seven’s reporter, Rahni Sadler, introduced her to Michael, Zoe was able to name Back to the Future as one of his films because she’d just seen it on the plane going over.

Michael J Fox, Zoe and dad Clyde.

Zoe and Esme got on like old mates and had a lot of fun together while dad and Michael talked about more serious things.

Seven’s program airs this Sunday night (18 March).

The research work by the Shake It Up Foundation in Australia to find a cure takes its next big step after Sunday, calling for Parkinson’s Disease patients to be part of a global research program.

The Shake It Up Foundation, together with Macquarie Neurology at Macquarie University in Sydney, is ready to accept enquiries from Monday from patients with recent diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease into the Australian medical research trials.

More detail about the study is on the MJFF and Macqaurie Neurology websites. You can learn more about Shake It Up and make a donation here.

In fact, one of the researchers who found red wine was good for you in the first place has been painted as gilding the lily.

It’s confusing enough to drive a man to drink.

Having worked in healthcare, I can tell you that most people would struggle to make head or tails of a scientific paper. That’s why they rely on media to tell them which end is up.

Sometimes, scientists do tell porkies. I once sat down with one of Australia’s most well-known public health advocates to nut out a PR plan. He wanted to push a conclusion from polling of Joe Public that didn’t exist.

There are some interesting dynamics at work where science and media intersect. Research is more popular than ever as grist for the media mill. The media’s voracious need for content has grown exponentially with their move online, while the attention span of consumers has shortened.

On the other hand, academic institutions are locked in a wrestling match to extract funds from (mostly) the private sector to pay the costs of doing research. Scientists need to pay their own wages. Companies providing funding almost always need commercial outcomes.

It can all become a little self-perpetuating. The vast majority of scientific research really is about incremental outcomes – and that doesn't win big capital injections or make great headlines.

A healthy dose of cynicism doesn't go astray when your read about the next cure for cancer.